Still, optimists scrambling for a silver lining have this: By notching a 32% quarter-over-quarter increase in shipments of its flagship Lumia line, Nokia can now say it sells more Lumias than rival Blackberry sells phones.

About 7.4 million Lumias were shipped between the beginning of April and end of June, compared to 6.8 million Blackberry phones over the same period. In the prior quarter, Blackberry’s 6 million sales edged out Lumia by 400,000 devices. Of Blackberry’s 6.8 million sales in the fiscal first quarter, ending June 30, only 2.7 million were the new Z10. Blackberry’s result, like Nokia’s Lumia volumes, disappointed market expectations.

While the comparison may seem like a trivial data match between two increasingly marginal players, it’s actually a notch in Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop’s belt. Elop, a former Microsoft executive who moved Nokia’s entire smartphone stable to Windows software in 2011, has long said he is out to win the war over which platform will emerge as the so-called third software ecosystem behind Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

During a conference call, Elop said his company is looking to harness Lumia momentum by engaging in in discussions with Microsoft on how to beef up the apps and other features available to Windows phone users. For example, Instagram – a staple app for many iPhone and Samsung Galaxy users – isn’t available for Windows phones.

Regardless of the small victory, Nokia is still stuck in the same boat that Blackberry is when it comes to having a mobile device business that is floating on a sea of red ink. Blackberry lost $84 million in the most recent financial period, while Nokia lost €42 million ($55 million). One more bright side: both firms narrowed their mobile device losses from the same period a year ago.